Printing neck tags

[BeerCityInc]

I have a customer that i have to neck tags for. I started out with vinyl ones but they are a paint in the ass with all weeding. So i started screen printing them, faster and easier to say the least but they look terrible. Ive been toying with the idea of plastisol transfers since the quantity is to low to have them outsourced for a reasonable price. What is the best way to do it and make them look good with out ink blowing through the shirt and maybe have a little pop to them. I change the tag color with design because it is a designer shirt that is getting sold at a very high price so i want to offer him the best print possible.

i use a M&R Diamondback

[Screened Gear]

I have a customer that i have to neck tags for. I started out with vinyl ones but they are a paint in the ass with all weeding. So i started screen printing them, faster and easier to say the least but they look terrible. Ive been toying with the idea of plastisol transfers since the quantity is to low to have them outsourced for a reasonable price. What is the best way to do it and make them look good with out ink blowing through the shirt and maybe have a little pop to them. I change the tag color with design because it is a designer shirt that is getting sold at a very high price so i want to offer him the best print possible.

i use a M&R Diamondback

I don't do alot of them but this is what I do. Mesh 230, 60 duro squeegee (manual) unions grey ink. I only print tags with union grey ink. It works on all colors but sports grey. They look good I have never had ink come through the shirt.

[ericheartsu]

we direct screen, or do transfers and use a hat cap. that works great, and it allows different sizes, instead of setting up, prinitng, resetting up, printing, etc...

[Inkworks]

What sort of quantity per image?

[Sbrem]

We print transfers, cut them up and apply with a hat press. They won't bleed through the cloth. Any color your customer wants...

Steve

[ZooCity]

We print transfers, cut them up and apply with a hat press. They won't bleed through the cloth. Any color your customer wants...

Steve

Ditto. 

[Nick Bane]

we do sleeve pallets on the gauntlet, can lay 4 sizes side by side on each side of screen so enough for 8 sizes total.  usually 160 fine thread mesh, just enough pressure for a nice print and nothing comes thru the shirt.  we also only do tags w grey ink, shows nice on all color shirts.  did 2200 pcs that way last tuesday.  usually between 300 and 2k pcs when we do them.

[ZooCity]

Those directly printing these, do you price it as another imprint location?  I've found the market won't bear that and you need to break up the cost, i.e., do a transfer print run, have them pay for that and then a flat rate to apply. $0.50 per application on the cap press in this case. This way it's 0.50 per at any qty they order and the cost of the transfer prints is on it's own and not consider with each run.  The cost is likely very similar in the end, just another way to voice it.

Direct printing, do you need to turn the shirts inside out to toss on the belt? 

I've found that, if an order has private labels, it probably also needs full QC so we're setup to check both seams and panels while the transfer is curing.  Helps to double up the duties.

[Inkworks]

I'd have to think direct (screen) printing has to be faster than transfers. Padprinting smokes them all though, but has it's own set of challenges and limitations. Set up correctly I'd think runs in excess of 1000/hr would be sustainable by one operator, no dryer, no unbundling shirts from dozen stacks, box to box.

[alan802]

I did some of these a year ago on the manual press, we charged .50 per and I was printing them so quickly we were making cash.  The auto was running at 900 pieces per hour and I was doing at least 350-400 per hour and the belt was full of shirts.  White ink through a 150/48 with almost no print pressure, one stroke and on the belt.  We could make a decent living directly printing them I think.  If we were set up on the auto to do them with a 3-4 pronged pallet it would be even better.

[BeerCityInc]

We print transfers, cut them up and apply with a hat press. They won't bleed through the cloth. Any color your customer wants...

Steve

yea this is what i was thinking, he is really stoked on the color matching tags which i did when i first got him as a customer to help sell the brand. Its an eye catcher and when im in his store the presentations is flawless. Usually i only get about 200 shirts from him but this time its 600 and he wasnt happy about the last run we did. I spoiled him on the color match and now its all he wants. I flip them inside out and load them on the press. Im doing some r and d right now so i post what findings i come up with and what seems to work best. Thanks for the help boys.

[JBLUE]

We've printed tens of thousands of these at a time all on the manual. Way faster than a transfer and cheaper. Charge anywhere from .50-1.00 per print. Moneyed to turn the shirt inside out. Only slows you down. Based out gray on 195 mesh. Minimal pressure and go. It is a different technique but very easily doable with a little practice. A good label guy can run almost 500 per hour.

[blue moon]

We print transfers, cut them up and apply with a hat press. They won't bleed through the cloth. Any color your customer wants...

Steve

Ditto.

tritto!


pierre

[Sbrem]

for the direct printers, what do you do with the labels? I used to flip them out of the way on the hat press, then discovered I could let them lay on top of the transfer while being pressed with no ill effect. We haven't had to do any really large amounts; I think if we doing them all the time in the thousands, I'd check out alternatives. In the end, I want the print clean with no bleed through.

Steve

[JBLUE]

We use tear away tags on relable jobs. If we have to cut out the tag it is an up charge. Screen printing them is very easy. We can print probably 3 to four of them in the time it takes to do a transfer. Another benefit is we do not need to print a transfer to begin with. When you print neck labels you are not going for a perfect opaque print like you do on the outside of the shirt.nyour printing the inside which is a different texture and all you need to do is lay down color. The customers are not looking for a print that matches a Hanes tag less lable.  If they are then they are custom ordered. I will snap some pics and post them up.